FTW Carbine/Multi-Purpose Sling First Impression

My wife bought me one of these for Christmas (damn I love her!). This is not meant as a replacement for my SAP positional sling, as that one is more useful for traditional marksmanship. However, the FTW may start showing up more on my range trips.

Prior to starting my marksmanship journey, my primary sling was a padded BFG VCAS. I always liked that sling because it was easily adjustable for slack by moving a slider back and forth. The FTW has the same feature via a loop of material rather than a carrier. The webbing is 1.5″, which I prefer. The rear half of the sling is a very stiff bungee material and a polymer cobra buckle is in the middle.

One of the two primary things I like more about this one is that the area forward of the cobra buckle can be used as a quick loop sling. If I actually cinch it down on my arm, then the sling is too long. But using it as a simple back brace (a la Rifleslinger’s RS1 sling) is still quite stable and very fast to get in and out of. I wouldn’t want to take multiple shots from that position, but it would work great for quickly getting into position for one or two shots and then getting back up.

The other feature I really like is the bungee. If I had the VCAS tightened all the way up, then there was no way to shoulder it. With the FTW, I can cinch it all the way in, and it is very tight and stable, but the bungee lets me shoulder it if I need to, with a bonus of providing a lot of sling tension on its own. In fact, if I drop into a squat or kneeling, the bungee on the rear portion does a great job of pulling the rifle back into my shoulder. It’s not quite loop sling stable, but would work good for quick shots.